Finally, here is the post I’ve been talking about lately regarding the quickest and easiest way ever to improve color and lighting in a photo.  I love this picture of some old farm equipment.  And after the photo, I’ll tell you how I got the look.

I went to our local photo expo a few weeks ago.  Huge mistake, right?  Like I need anything else on my photography wish list.  Luckily, most items stayed on the wish list.  I did buy a set of reflectors which was affordable, much needed and has already improved my photography.

BUT.  There was this Nik Software booth.  Do any of you know their products?  They make products like Silver Efex Pro, which I had heard raves about on Flickr.  They also make Dfine, Sharpener Pro, Color Efex Pro and Viveza.

If only I had kept on walking. . . . Because a Nik representative was demo-ing Viveza on a large screen.  They were using what would be a typical picture for me.  The picture had promise but the overexposed sky, blah foreground and pale skin on the subjects could only be corrected with some Photoshop time and an action or two.   Blah like this “before” version of my picture above.

The Nik man fixed his picture in a matter of seconds, applying a different local area adjustment to each part of the photo.  With no masks involved.  No selections.  And hardly any time.

It was incredible.

And thus begins a series of posts you will see over the next month or so as I review and play with my new software.

I’m going to start with Viveza.  Viveza  selectively corrects or enhances light and color.  With no selections or masks.

My first criterion for any image editing software is that it integrates with Photoshop.  If I have to open an image in one program, save my edits and re-open the image in another, it’s not going to happen.  Not only can you open Nik’s line of products from within Photoshop, you can also use them from with in Lightroom, Aperture and yes, even Photoshop Elements!

So how does Viveza work and what does it do?  Here is a screenshot after I opened it from the Nik Palette in Photoshop:

Do you see the button toward the top right corner that says “Add a Control Point”?  Press that, click in an area of your picture that needs color or lighting improvement and you get this control point:

The four buttons on the right side are your adjustment buttons.  The first controls the size of the selection that Viveza makes for you.  The next three control brightness, contrast and saturation respectively.

For my “after” picture, I increased the saturation on the red of the barn.  I increased saturation and contrast on the windmill.  I brightened and increased saturation on the plant and the grass.   And I darkened the shadows underneath the building.

Can you do all that in Photoshop?  Absolutely.  Can it be done so quickly?  Not by me. I think I placed about 8 control points, dragged the sliders and that was it.  It took me less than a minute.   And if you use this product from within Lightroom, you can apply the same adjustments to multiple shots.

So I mentioned to someone at Nik how much I love their products.  Apparently I’m in good company, because Scott Kelby has raved about them to the folks at Nik.  Viveza, I hear, is one of his favorites.  It’s not just the capabilities of Viveza and the rest of the product line that make them such invaluable tools, but more importantly, their absolute simplicity and speed.

Who should buy this product?  Hobbyists and scrapbookers who are happy with their digital photography workflow?  No.  Professionals?  Yes.  Serious hobbyists who want to spend more time behind the camera than on the computer?  Yes.  People who never got the hang of layer masks and making selections in Photoshop?  Oh yeah.  But if you have Photoshop and are on a tight budget, wait a while.  Photoshop can do just about everything Viveza can, just not as quickly and easily.

After hearing how much I liked Viveza, Nik Software generously created a discount code for any DPM readers who want to purchase their products.  Enter DPM at checkout to save 15%! Nik is currently running a 40% off sale on Viveza, and you can add the DPM 15% on top of that.

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